Unexpected Encounters
by belleandthebeast91
Summary: A protector with her mother over their lands, a young leopard contemplates her purpose in the savannah amid an unexpected visitor during hunting.


Unexpected Encounters

_**"Remember dear, as a leopard, it is your duty to protect yourself."**_

_ "I understand, Mother." _

_** "From the baobab trees to the flattest portion of the savannah, your great-grandparents hunted and scathed against those bloodthirsty demons, to raise worthy cubs on our land."**_

_ "Yes." _

_**"Can you name them off the top of your head?" **_

_ "Oh yes, I can! Hyenas, lions, cheetahs, and especially the baboons."_

_**"Excellent, my dear! You are such a quick learner! Your father wherever he is would be extremely proud of you. Your hunting skills and pouncing have progressed beautifully." **_

_ "Hahaha, Mother, I'm still trying to navigate my way to newer territory too." _

_**"I know that, my sweet. Never forget who you are or where your origins lie." **_

_ "I'll never forget." _

_**"I love you very much dear." **_

Ah, the moments being a Mother's daughter never phase me or pass me by. I took everything she ever told me to heart, since I was her only surviving cub of the four she had lost during the last five years. I was her last hope to preserve what must always be preserved. She told me tales of other leopards having their offspring obliterated by monsters, devils, and overarching invaders upon our prized lands.

The savannah…unpredictable in its ways…but we had our own lands and customs to protect and raise our family. Mother taught me to always be on my guard and to never turn my back on any enemy. Cold blooded and reeking with hysteria the hyena was, always stealing our meals. The lion, an indiscriminate and authoritarian killing machine with its pack at its paws to rid the territory of opposition. The sun, they'd always say, set on their side of the kingdom.

The cheetahs coming almost neck to neck with Father when he tried to mate with Mother.

And lastly the baboons, the vicious imps….with their razor sharp canines and red squinting eyes. To me they reminded me strangely of another creature who began encroaching upon our territory, with only two feet, very little hair, and upright posture. These white skinned creatures set up abnormal looking coves and I believe I heard right "tents" to observe Mother and I. Refracting beams of light and reflective surfaces like the waterhole glaring at us while we tried to hunt. More or less it was distracting to us as our prey scattered at the sight of these alien foes.

The baboons were the most nefarious predators known to my family. Many aunts and uncles and of course my grandmother on Mother's side had been killed, an incident forever ingrained in her psyche.

Little if anything pleasant was said about the baboon. They were deemed the scum of the savannah by all leopards, killing innocent cubs in sight to promote their own population. I envied their teaming numbers and kinship that followed them. We who were forced to move if conditions became too treacherous in the open flat lands.

How Mother dreamt of seeing them forcibly removed, how anyway possible, from the prized land mass that her grandparents and her parents dedicated their lives to protect. The occasional cub who failed to shield him or herself from this growing threat. At almost two months old, I had completely memorized the calling patterns of the baboon [was it encroaching on new territory? Was it calling its members to move elsewhere? Did they find food? Did they see leopard scum?]

I prayed upon the day when I would finally be able to sink my fangs into them. Mother told me to save these urges for the hunt and control my emotions more, so my rage would not get out of hand of course. For if we leopards live in fear and anger, how could we progress to becoming the top notorious and clever, secretive cats we were. Who could climb trees, fit themselves underneath undesirable places, hide away in the marshes for long periods of time, clench prey by suffocation of the neck and prance back into the woods without letting even the great lions know we were there? I felt unstoppable like the whole world was going to bow down to me and no innocent spawn of the enemy would phase me. I'd be doing this for my own self-worth and though I always denied it, for Mother. She would always be at my side before I was old enough to be on my own.

At age 3, Mother told me that was on my way to becoming an all-out predator and should start to look for another tree to stay in. At first I was a bit apprehensive about it, for I had always relied on Mother to bring me food and love and affection, all that good stuff. As leopards, especially females, it is our duty to venture out into the great unknown and test our skills and of course find a suitable mate to start a family. All these prospects beamed in my head as I went to bed one night before my third birthday.

Mother asked me what I wanted to do that day….

"Stalking those that dare mess with our family."

She smiled at me and closed her eyes as we rested our heads on the thick baobab trunk branches. The sounds of the various bugs and birds put me to sleep that night.

The next morning, I let Mother sleep for a little more as I stretched out my muscles after a well-deserved rest. Savannah mornings are just breath taking, misty clouds pervading on the tops of the thick grasslands. I took a stroll around our territory to check for invaders.

"_I'll take a baboon home to celebrate. This is my big chance." _

I knew exactly where the lot of them hid…eerily close at the very edge of our bordered territory. Always helps to make your foes paranoid of their own existence, I'd hear them say. This time their strategy worked in my favor. For that moment, I didn't mind…the closer they were to the border the closer breakfast was for me. I began to sprint across the flat lands to the edge of our bordered territory and crouched behind a huge bolder. My eyes in voyeuristic stance took to notice a rather plump looking, absentminded baboon. Its fur was overcrowding its face as its beady eyes darted all around to see if others would join it in forming a circle.

The suspense of all-out war was killing me on the inside, as I felt muscles pulse within my head.

"_A male. Yeah, tough guys…I'll take 'em down. The more the merrier...Mother is going to love this!" _

The lone baboon decided to wander off from its comrades to work out something with its back. I thought I saw something twitch at its belly, but I immediately brushed it off thinking it just had an itch, possibly stalling for time. I felt a rush of adrenaline flowing through my brain, to my mouth, and my claws as my body kept pushing me towards the hapless prey. I slowly tip toed my way so I would not be given away by the pride. I picked up even more speed as the baboon had nearly jumped up onto a tree branch almost evading my striking range. This was my shining moment of passion, all my life, to vanquish my trespassers. The feeling was unreal as if I felt possessed as I tore through the grass and pounced into the air, slamming my paws onto the baboon's skull.

My fangs sunk seductively into the neck of the over-fattened devil, and there was so much blood…and I silenced the foul creature in the nick of time before the pride had a chance to turn around to see that a valued member mysteriously vanished….I myself scampering nonchalantly up into a nearby tree to feed on my catch.

Watching Mother from a distance when she hunted desensitized me to the violent nature of hunting for we had to eat and drink from what we had. But oh, the gasp, the final breath drawn from the creature was music to my black patched ears. I was having a ball churning the meat and cartilage at the neck, dragging the dead baboon up the thick branch to a place where we would feast, hearing muscles tear up inside it.

My ultimate accomplishment, so joyous, so conceivable, I thought I was invincible and could hunt and fed on something else if I wanted to all day…..

But a sudden chain of events had begun to unravel unexpectedly towards me as I began to eat. While I nibbled more at the back of the dead baboon's neck, I faintly saw a tiny little furball budge at the leg of my kill. A day old newborn…

I paused for a moment for the poor thing had slid off the dead baboon's stomach and into a grassy, hay bush below the tree trunk. I could hear the baby cooing and screeching quietly for attention.

"_How could this happen? This can't be it's…." _

I felt despicable and dirty in committing such an act. I began to think of my own mother and my grandmother's fate…..I had become my own worst enemy. Unleashing untold misery on this poor, helpless baby baboon. Perspective or even sympathy never entered Mother's and my conversation with regard to predators. I had never give thought to it, this rush of irrepressible feelings. For the Circle of Life knows no compassion for its own players. We die and are reborn again in our decedents to continue what we have started all over again on this beautiful, majestic land.

My predatory instincts would have told me to eradicate this demon spawn, but instead I crouched down on the baby's level and laid down beside it. Pawing at its tiny, scruffy head, I was becoming increasingly curious of this creature. The darling's eyes darted everywhere possibly to see where his mother went. I knew it was for a lost cause, for who else was going to be there to hold him and provide for him? These unusual feelings developing within me, as though I had them all along….I suddenly recalled my own cubhood in the bosoms of Mother. Tugging at her stomach for more milk after a hard day hunting. The endless hours of loneliness and self-play until she finally came back from the hunt with enough milk for two days. I clutched onto the baby baboon and pulled him closer to me. For a moment, the baboon looked at me with sincere, honest eyes I won't ever forget….the two of us touched our heads together, nuzzling for a while until the sun reached mid-day.

Our tender moment was ruined as I sensed a hyena closing in on us…the baby's mother slipped my mind all those hours. The hyena would surely take away my prized possession and the baby. But this time, I disregarded the carcass and quickly lifted the baby to safety up another nearby tree feet away from the original. I came to confront the scheming low-rear ended beast to back off. My priorities and motivations were on a different mindset than hunting.

Mother had never taught me about encounters with offspring, nor had it ever happened that a newborn was stuck onto a prey while she hunted, or perhaps she just never told me about it. Was she known by the baboons even to kill their babies? Even if she did encounter one, she had always assumed every single baboon was an enemy and could never be trusted by any leopard, a cultivation of hatred soon to be born within my heart in heated violent passion should I ever come across one.

I began to set up grass and hay piles within the tree to ensure that the baby was secure, for I still had some more hunting to do during the day. I would, just for the day, dissuade myself from returning home. If Mother had seen the baboon she would surely kill it…yet, a part of me wanted so much for the youngling to live, possibly be accepted back into the pride. But I would end up killing him eventually if I did that.

'_**This isn't supposed to happen, just kill the dirty little beast' **_an unrecognizable, random voice in my head proclaimed.

I suddenly gave the baby a piercing look and enlarged my paws. I was still so incredibly hungry. I could feel my chest heaving for more.

"_I really could do it, just wipe the poor bastard out. Just to get rid of these feelings. What's the use? It's gonna be something, I'll tell Mother all about it." _

The baby baboon began to wave its hands in the air. I was puzzled as to how exactly this communicated. I suddenly realized with his twitching fingers, he desired food and possibly more cuddling. He was rolling around on the tree getting into one of his ever pervasive playful moods.

"_Now, how could I ever refuse something like that?"_ I gullibly asked myself, my breathe steadying, and gracefully withdrew my claws.

For the rest of the day, I never gave another thought to slaying him again.

This secret encounter would be something I would never tell Mother about for she would if she could have her way with me, if she discovered the baboon scent on me, maybe destroy me or never speak to me again, all these years of teaching me about the enemy. All this love and affection and sharing of ideas gone to waste. The trust and faith we had in each other. How? And why?

For the rest of the day, I competed with lionesses and cheetahs for warthog, bringing bits and pieces back for the baby baboon to munch on. For hours my eyes never left him and strangely the newborn too began following me everywhere I went. I briefly played hide and seek with him in the longer grassland brushes when no predators were around. Repeatedly, he was reaching out to me as if to hug me and cuddle with me more….most likely imprinting me, I eventually figured out, as his new surrogate mother. I never tired of his energies and found it quiet touching.

I knew Mother had expected me at this stage of my life, especially my third birthday to act more my age. For I, as an eradicator of my worst adversary, would proclaim total adulthood into the leopard way of life. However, she sensed that I was still too inquisitive, innocent, and gullible with my surroundings giving way for impulsive behavior. She warned that it could potentially give us away to our enemies deeming us weak to hold onto the territory, so I tried the best I could to suppress those adventurous, cub-like feelings, for a more assertive attitude.

While mulling over these thoughts, the baby baboon and I played another game together consisting of him slightly trying my patience in attempting to climb down the tree himself. I wouldn't allow it, just as Mother never allowed me to climb higher places when I was cub for fear I was not ready for them and would crack my skull. I had a duty to protect this little scamp, even if he was my enemy deep down. He would be raised also to hate my pride of leopards and we would part ways and never see each other again. Not even recognize each other….No, I wasn't going to let that transpire. I planned for us to live together and I would provide milk and more meat if I could raise him on my own. I thought that I'd possibly try to explain this to Mother, maybe she would understand me. It was my life, my choices and since he was a baby, he would be unofficially one of my own. Minds are impressionable anyway at that age, especially for a baby baboon.

The newborn complied with me and allowed me to carry him by the arm up to a wider space on the tree. He slowly closed his eyes and turned around on his back. Blinking his eyes, he impishly began to scratch his tiny belly. I took this as a sign for him to bathe. Affirming his efforts at communicating with me, though we are different species, I licked mud and dust particles off his close cut fur coat. As I licked more and more, the newborn became increasingly limp.

"_Time for bed."_

I had run out of breath for any further activity. The baboon opened its eyes again and began to toss and turn, expecting a reaction out of me. I paced around to the other side to see his face better, lowering myself more on the branch. As always, the baby followed my lead, both of us cuddling for hours against the chill of the desolate night.

The newborn then started to crawl back to his hay bed that I had scratched to make extra soft for us to sleep. As I laid down the baby baboon rolled out against the side of my stomach tugging for milk. I had no more energy tonight to hunt for the youngling and produce milk from my glands. I'd have to wait till morning to do that. As the two of us drifted off into sweet dreams, I reminisced about my whole day. The night had been filled with strangeness, perversity, and wonder. The savannah is a vast and unpredictable place where predator and prey duke each other out for one's own power and authority on the lands. Who gets the waterhole, who gets the most monstrous boulders, caves, trees, and bushes. Alliances are taboo as each species is stringently bound to its own. Each species pitted against each other for all-out war, dramas that creatures outside the confounds of the savannah could never comprehend.

You can say it was my fault to have deprived the newborn of one of his vital sources of nurturing, but such is the way of the Circle of Life, which I have little to no control over. As a leopard, I realize I am bound to encounter instances like this again…but for just one night, I desired differentiation and the ability to show one ounce of sympathy toward my fellow creatures. That sympathy constantly conflicting with a vicious, bloodthirsty heart wishing to smite and embrace my wrath.

These were precious moments that I'd treasure for a lifetime and often pray that conditions between the species stabilize….a phenomenon never to be realized in such a place. Nature possesses no shades of gray.

As I awoke the next morning, I risen to see if the newborn would respond to me as it did the past day. Though the night had been rather cold, I believed that the newborn could survive and cling enough to my steadfast fur coat.

"_His eyes are still shut…..maybe I'll wait five minutes to see if a pulse comes…." _

He wasn't cooperating with me. I poked and nuzzled my wet black nose against his head.

"_Nothing, but what does it mean?"_

I was duping myself of course….I knew he was dead, but I didn't want to believe it. Too soon, way too soon. He was mine. He was going to be mine no matter what, friend or foe. I carried him down from the thick tree branches and onto the ground where I began to slowly lose grip on my emotions. I thrashed and slashed at every bush and every hidden ground hole and incidentally happened to kill a baby warthog still hiding away till his mother brought back supper. I roared off and on for ten minutes calling out to anyone who would help.

I looked down at the decrepit creature and reasoned if there was any reason at all to bring the warthog to the silent baby baboon. Clearly the smell of meat will get him going…..

I buried my face into his tiny body and licked him all around for more reactions….silent as daybreak. He was gone and there was nothing I could do. I refused to give into my instincts to eat him so I projected everything on eating its mother. Low and behold the body was still there, maybe a leg missing because of the hyena. In a matter of ten minutes, I devoured the poor thing ashamedly and sprawled back to the newborn. I decided to carry him to a nearby cave and put layers upon layers of tree leaves upon his body. I laid down in the cave and began to think of what could have been between us. How I could teach him to hunt and play multiple games of hide and seek. I'd have to let him go as Mother was doing to me once I became an adult.

"_Goodnight, sweet prince. At least you knew one good leopard in your pitiful lifetime_."

I lifted myself up and slowly made my way back to my territory. Mother tore down from her perched position up on our family tree. Caressing me with her tail and licking my face, _Dedicated and true_, _she is,_ _I have my proud daughter home with me again,_ she probably thought.

"_**So how did "it" go?" she asked. **_

I reclined my back away from her and my tilted head turning depressingly toward the lower right of my shoulder.

"_Just as planned, Mother." _


End file.
